Dr. Jack Kevorkian lashed back at the medical community for criticizing his plan to donate kidneys from a quadriplegic who committed suicide with his help. The retired pathologist said in Southfield that he wanted to focus attention on an organ shortage. But experts in the organ donation community say he's doing more to hurt their cause than help.

The Cleveland Clinic said it is the first institution to receive review board approval of human facial transplants for people disfigured by burns or disease. Several independent medical teams around the world also are pursuing the procedure. The Cleveland Clinic said its approval on Oct. 15 followed 10 months of debate. It has no current patients or donors for the procedure. "We are at this point ready to begin screening patients," said Dr.

Former NBA All-Star center Alonzo Mourning underwent kidney transplant surgery Friday and was in good condition. The surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia hospital came less than a month after Mourning retired because of a kidney disease. The kidney donor, a family member, also was in good condition.

Scottish musician Jack Bruce, former bass player and vocalist with the short-lived 1960s "supergroup" Cream, is recovering from a near-fatal liver transplant, his label reports. Bruce, 60, underwent the transplant in an English hospital Sept. 19 after being diagnosed with liver cancer during the summer, Sanctuary Records said in a statement. He almost died after his body rejected the new liver, his kidneys failed and an infection set in.

Leukemia patient Arturo Cervantes traveled to this country from Mexico in search of a bone marrow transplant, and tests indicate that he matches with the unusually high number of 79 potential donors. But Cervantes, a former professional soccer player, has also learned that he does not have enough money for the $375,000 operation. He said his government-issued medical insurance does not cover U.S. medical procedures.

Scientists have identified a protein fragment that makes female mice reject tissue transplanted from males, a possible step toward improving human transplants. The fragment appears on male tissue. It is the first to be identified out of perhaps a half-dozen such male markers in mice and people, said researcher Elizabeth Simpson at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Center in London.

Stormie Jones, the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient, Saturday was released from Children's Hospital after adjustments in medication following "a mild episode of rejection," a spokeswoman said. Stormie, 13, of White Settlement, Tex., was admitted to the hospital Thursday for observation and tests.

David Banning is short a kidney. Yet the 38-year-old Trabuco Canyon carpenter feels good about donating a kidney to his youngest brother, Bill, liberating him from the dialysis machine that has kept him alive since October. Bill Banning, 29, is not in the clear yet. The former Navy petty officer was rushed to UC San Diego Medical Center last weekend with a fever and chills--signs that his body may be rejecting the kidney donated by David in a transplant operation Feb. 11.

A 3-year-old girl is progressing well less than a week after undergoing a rare, five-organ transplant, a Children's Hospital spokeswoman said. Rolandrea Dodge of Fruitland, N.M., received a new liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestine and part of a large intestine.

A Silver Spring, Md., man who received what was believed to be the nation's first successful heart-pancreas transplant, could be out of the hospital in a few weeks, hospital officials said Sunday. Barry Katz, 45, a senior scientist for the Strategic Defense Initiative program, was a diabetic whose heart had been severely damaged by the disease. Doctors said they decided that because of Katz's condition, complications would result if only his heart were replaced.